Last Friday, the owners of the thirty-two teams in the National Football League (NFL) took the very significant decision to settle a nearly two year collusion lawsuit with the former San Francisco 49ers’ quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
Very significant, in fact, since this is an organization with a history of denying everything and stoutly defending itself in court, especially against former players. It has had but a few losses. One would remember that the league initially wasted lots of time (and money) denying its culpability in the US$1 billion class-action concussion lawsuit brought against it by former players before agreeing to settle.
According to various reports, (the terms of the settlement have not been disclosed), the NFL will pay Kaepernick between US$60 and US$80 million to settle his case that the owners had colluded not to hire him because of the wave of protests against racial injustice he had begun, by kneeling during the playing of the American anthem before the start of NFL games during the 2016 season.
Kaepernick, who is bi-racial and was adopted and raised by a white couple, had quietly started the 2016 NFL preseason by sitting on the bench during the playing of The Star Spangled Banner before taking to kneeling during the fourth preseason game. Initially the action went unnoticed and when questioned by reporters for the reason he explained that he was protesting police brutality, i.e. the shooting of unarmed black civilians by white police officers.
Why settle? Last year August an arbitrator had denied the NFL’s request to have the case thrown out, suggesting that Kaepernick’s legal team had compiled enough evidence to present a formal case. With a hearing scheduled for March, the NFL opted to settle rather than have the owners reveal disturbing information about its functioning under cross examination in court.
It appears that the NFL had bent to the will of President Donald Trump, who had used the protests for his own political mileage during his campaign for the presidency. Allegedly, to appease the president, the NFL had moved to silence the protests. It was a significant win for Trump, who many felt, was simply taking the opportunity to exact revenge on the very exclusive club, ownership of an NFL team, of which he had been denied membership on more than one occasion.
So, did the owners of the most powerful sports league in America, seven of whom donated US$1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee, sacrifice Kaepernick’s career rather than deal with the wrath of the president? In one deposition, according to The Wall Street Journal, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones revealed that in a telephone conversation that Trump informed him, “Tell everybody you can’t win this one. This one lifts me.” Other owners acknowledged receiving phone calls from the White House.
Who knows what other damaging evidence the billionaire franchise owners might have disclosed under oath when questioned by top legal minds retained by Kaepernick? The NFL owners opted not to gamble and chose instead to each write a petty cash voucher –two to three million dollars is chump change to these gentlemen – towards the settlement.
What does the future hold for Kaepernick now that he has received a very substantial settlement? Despite his efforts to retain a low profile, Kaepernick, remains very much in the news. Nike, the sports apparel and equipment manufacturer has hired him to be the face of a major advertising campaign.
Kaepernick has not played in the NFL since New Year’s Day 2017, and although he claims to be in shape and is willing and ready to play, it remains highly unlikely that any team will want to hire the most visible activist that the NFL has seen in recent memory.
With the settlement the NFL saves itself the embarrassment of a guilty verdict that it had colluded to keep Kaepernick out of the league, but it wouldn’t be able to deny the fact that Colin Kaepernick will be remembered as the player who stood up for what he felt was right, even if it meant losing his football career and his endorsements.